Robe construction



April 25, 1933. G SAFIR ET AL ROBE CONSTRUCTION Filed Nov. 22, 1932 Z, {a Z 1? 8' LEO c. SAF/f? /0a I w g/5M a 77/50? T ORN 5 Patented Apr. 25, 1933 GEOBGE SAFIR AND LEO C. SAFIR, OF SOUTH NORWALK, CONNECTICUT ROBE CONSTRUCTION Application filed November 22, 1932. Serial Nae 13,822.

- Thisinvention relates to robes, such, for example, as lounging robes or bath robes worn by both men and women. The invention is directed to the improvement of the construction of such robes so as to make them more attractive and at the same time reduce the cost of manufacture.

In the design of robe which is at present in the greatest demand the edges of the garment where it meets in the front are finished with so-called piping. This same finish is also employed around the edges of the collar, cuffs, and pocket trimming. At present this piped edging is made by folding a strip of suitable material and inserting the same between the outer and inner layers of the garment fabric before stitching them together. In order to produce a neat and attractive edging in this manner great care must be used by the operator in inserting the piping and stitching the parts together. If the piping does not project evenly beyond the edges of the material, or if the stitching is uneven, it is very noticeable and spoils the attractiveness of therobe. It therefore requires considerable skill, and an inordinate amount of time to make this piped edging, and it is extremely diflicult to lay out manufacturing operations by means of which this edging can be used on garments on a large scale. It might almost be said to require the production of the robes on a hand-work basis. One of the particular objects of our invention is therefore to provide a piped edging construction, or an edging which is suiiiciently equivalent thereto in its appearance to take the place of the same from a sales standpoint, and which at the same time is so simplified in its arrangement of the parts of the garment as to materially reduce the cost of manufacture of the garment.

Diticulty has been experienced heretofore in the making of robes in securing a correct hang of the garment. That is to say, it has been diflicult to manufacture the garment in such a way that the front edges shall hang parallel when the garment is worn. Due to non-uniform stretching of the various portions of the front part of the garment during the making of thesame, there has been a tendency for the front edges tohang wider apart at the bottom than near the lapels.

This has been'particularly evident after the garment has been used for a time as the edges are apt to become stretched to a greater degree than the remainder of the garment. It has heretofore been impossible to obtain a good front in the robes without the use of tape, which is undesirable because of. the added stitching operations required to firmly securethe tape to the material of the garment, these stitching operations being necessary solely in order to improve the appearance of the garment, and not aiding in any other way in the garment construction. Accordingly, another object of our invention is to so construct the robe that the front of it will hang properly without the use of tape.

A further object of our invention is to improve the construction of the sash or belt for the robe in such a way that the belt will be stronger and neater in appearance, but made of narrow strips of waste material from the cuttings of the garment, thereby reducing. the amount of material required for the robe as a whole.

Our invention will be undertood from the following detailed description taken'in connection with the accompanying. drawing which shows by way of example our present best embodiment of the invention. In this drawing v r Fig. 1 is a front view of a gentlemans robe made in accordancewithour invention r v Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspective and seetional View drawn to an enlarged scale and showing the structure of our improved edging;andy'v Figs. 3,;4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views illustrating the steps in making the edging construction of Fig. 2, Fig. 5 being taken on line 5-5 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 6 is a section on line 6-6 of Fig. 1, showing the edging construction in the lapels.

Referring now to this drawing, the robe 1 is a long coat-like garment having sleeves and collar, and sufficient in width and length to loosely cover the body of the wearer. The front portions 2 and 3 are arranged to over-. lap one another and be held thus by buttons and by a sash 4. The vertical edge of each of the front portions 2 and 3 is provided with an edging 5 of our improved construction in simulation of piped edging. The edging 5 is constructed as shown in Fig. 2 and comprises a channel 6 within which is located a core 7. This core 7 is circular in cross-section and serves to impart a circular or curved appearance to the material of which the channel 6 is made.

In making the. edging 5 a strip 8 of material which is to form a facing 9 along the inner margin of the front 2 is sewed to the outer surface of the material constituting the front 2 in the manner shown in Fig. 3, the edges being brought into alignment and a line of stitching 10 being placed near these edges. This leaves margins 2a and 8a beyond stitching 10. The core 7 consists of a cord which is attached to the inner surface of the material constituting the front 2. These three parts are stitched together at a single operation on a machine equipped with a hollow or apertured presser foot through which the cord 7 is fed, and the single stitching 10 therefore serves to secure together the material comprising facing 8, the front 2 and the core 7.

After this is done the strip 8 and a narrow portion 2 of the front 2 are wrapped around the core 7, as shown in Fig. 4, and facing 8 is stitched to the underside of front 2 by means of a second line of stitching l1 see Figs. 2 and 5). The cloth of strip 8 is folded sharply on itself at 8 along the line of stitchinglO and drawn not too snugly around the core as shownin Fig. 5. This stretches somewhat the stitching 10 as indicated and mats the sharp fold 8' into the material of front 2 adjacent line of stitching 10, as indicated at 10'. In this way the outer surface of the sharp fold 8 is brought into such relation to the narrow portion 2 that the edge of the material 8 along the sharp fold 8 appears to the eye to be secured to front 2 by the line of stitching 11 instead of by stitching 10. Sharp fold 8 appears as though it, passed beneath narrow portion 2 and thenunder stitching 11. The fold 8' and the material 8 surrounding the core 7 present the appearance of piping of the usual or ordinary kind. This illusion enhanced when the color of material 8 is in contrast to that of the front 2'.

It will be understood that the width of narrow portion 2' can be varied as desired with respect to the size of the core 7, and the width presented by the material 8 surrounding the core, thereby varying the design of the piping effect in a similar manner to the variations possible with ordinary piping. The shape and size of the edging 5 may also be varied by making the line of stitching 10 (Fig. 3) closer to or farther from the edges of the material so as to vary the width of the narrow portions 2a and 8a. With these portions of suflicient width to extend about half way around core 7 as shown in the drawing, the cross section of the edging as a Whole is substantially circular.

The material of the robe will ordinarily be flannel, although other materials may be used, and the facing strip is preferably also of the same material but of a different and contrasting color. Thus, for example, the body of the robe might be of dark green flannel and the facing 8 of light green flannel. As described above the edging 5 appears as though stitching 11 on the dark green robe front were the usual line of stitching holding in place an inserted strip of light green piping material.

Although our improved edging has the appearance of the ordinary piped. edging, its

cost of manufacture is materially less. This will be understood from the fact that in making the ordinary piped edging the piping strip first has to be folded or properly formed, then it has to be inserted between the facing and the material forming the front of the robe, and carefully held in place while the stitching is being done. From the above description, however, of our present invention, it will be understood that the sewing together of the facing 8, garment front 2 and core 7 is done all. in one operation, and it requires no more care than the simple stitching together of two pieces of material. The feeding of the core is substantially automatic and the core is positioned uniformly at the proper distance from the edge of the two pieces of material by the presser foot of the sewing machine. The second line of stitching 11 is an ordinary straight sewing operation using an arched presser foot instead of a flat one so as to be able to place the stitching 11 fairly close to the core.

The core 7 is madeof in-expensive fibrous cording or similar suitable material and possesses greater hardness than the material surrounding it, thereby imparting and maintaining the desired curvature of the outer surface of the edging structure. It also is less s.retchable than the material of which the garment is made, and has less tendency to either stretch or contract, and thereby causes the front of the garment to hang straight and present a neat and attractive appearance even when the rob-e is not bu toned.

It will be understood that if desired the facing 8 may be varied not only in color from the material of the front portion 2, but also in texture or quality or kind. Thus,for example, the facing 8 may be made of satin, in which case the similarity to a satin piping of ordinary construction would be greater than when the facing is of flannel.

Our improved edging 5 is preferably carried upwardly to the lapels 12 and collar 13 so as to carry out the piping design throughout the garment. In furtherance of this same idea, edges of the pockets may be similarly constructed with a band 15 of contrasting color immediately below this edging. Also, piped edge 16 may be provided 011 the upper edges of the cuffs 17. The lapels 12, bands 15 for the pockets and cuffs 17 are most attractive when they are made in the contrasting color, that is, in the same color as the edging 5 for the front of the garment.

The lapels form a continuation of the same color as the piping 5. It is therefore necessary to set off the edges of the lapels and, as well, the edges of the pockets and cuffs in the dark green of the garment body. This is done as shown in Fig. 6. The core or cord is continued along the edges of the front 2 into the portion which forms the lapels 12, and in fact around the collar. The cord in the lapels is stitched in the same way as shown in 3, and in substantially the same position, although preferably it is placed sli htly nearer the left-hand edge of the material so that the margins 26 and 8b are somewhat narrower than the margins 2a and 8a. A layer 12' of fabric for stiffening the lapels is included. In the lapel edging shown in Fig. 6, the relative positions of the light green facing 8 and the dark green material of the robe front 2 are exactly reversed with respect to the positions which they occupy in Fig. 5. That is to say, instead of the major portion of the material surrounding the core 7 being made up of the light green facing 8 with only a narrow portion 2 of the dark green front 2, in Fig. 6 the major portion of the material surrounding the core 7 is made up of the dark green front 2 with only a narrow portion 2a. of the light green facing 8. The facing 8 is stitched to the front 2 close to the core along a line of stitching 1101., the margins 2?) and 8?) being placed between th s line of stitching and the core. This produces a sharp fol-d 8'42 at the line of stitching 10a. as before and mats this fold into the material of front 2 as indicated at 10a. In this way a very similar effect is produced as described above in connection with Fig. 5, namely, the illusion of a piped edging, in which, in this instance, the end of the mate rial 2 surrounding core 7 appears to be held in place. not by the concealed line of stitching 10a. but by the line of stitching 11a.

It will be understoodthat the change from the edging construction of Fig. 5 to that of Fig. 6 takes place opposite the uppermost button of the robe, that is, at the bottom c'ornerof the lapel. The front edge ofthe robe is therebyprovided with an edging which to all appearances is-coiistructed" as anordinary piped edging from the bottom of the robe extending along the lapels and around the collar, although the color of this edging changes at the lapels, thereby preserving the lapels in the same color as the facing 9.

The sash 4- is made of two thicknesses of material of preferably the same fabric as the body of the robe, and provided with our improved both of its edges. The material of the outer portion of the sash is usually of the same color as the garment, for example, dark green and the color of the inner material light green so that the light green shows as a contrasting color in the tying portions of the sash. The color of the piped edges 18 may be made in either color desired.

This construction makes an extremely attractive sash, and at the same time permits the use of narrow strips of material which can be obtained from the waste in cutting the body of the garment. This has heretofore been impossible because it was necessary to use a strip which was twice the desired width of the sash and then fold it along the center line. 7 The physical characteristics of our improved sash are superior to the sash of the previous design inasmuch as the core or cord 7 materially strengthens the sash and makes it of uniform strength along both edges. In the ordinary sash one edge is stronger than the other because of the increased thickness of material'along one edge.

WVe claim:

1. Inan edging structure for a garment, a cord attachedto the garment on the inner face thereof and adjacent the edge of said face, the margin of said garment adjacent the cord being laid against the surface of the cord, a strip of material stitched to said margin and folded upon itself so as to conceal said stitching, said strip extending around said cord and against the inner surface of said piped edging as indicated at 18 along garment and being stitched to said garment I 2. In a robe having overlapping front por-' tions provided with folded lap els, facing strips extending along the margins of said overlapping portions, said facing strips forming the outer surface of the folded lapels, decorative edgings for the overlapping front portions and lapels, said edgings comprising a core stitched to the edge portion of the material forming the body of the robe and the facings adjacent their common edge, the facing material being folded around the core and formingacasing' therefor beyond the visible part of the edge portion of the body material forming the overlapping front portions, and the body ma,- terial being folded around the core and form- 5 ing a casing therefor beyond the visible part of the facing strips forming the outer surface of the lapels. v I

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures.

U) I GEORGE SAFIR.

LEO C. SAFIR. 

